Australia’s post-study work visa under fire in election pledge

If elected, the Coalition said it will look to review the Temporary Graduate Visa (subclass 485), arguing that current post-study work settings are being exploited as a pathway to employment and permanent residency.

The announcement came in early April, when Opposition leader Peter Dutton unveiled a suite of policy intentions for the international education sector. Among them: a proposed cap of 240,000 new international student arrivals per year, and a new AUD $5,000 visa fee for applicants targeting Australia’s top universities.

Speaking to The PIE News, Phil Honeywood, chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia (IEAA), commented: “Everything that the Federal Opposition has announced during this protracted campaign has been anti-international students and directed against the 250,000 Australians who work in our beleaguered sector.”

“We are therefore sceptical about the motivation for their just-announced 485 visa review,” he added. “If the past is anything to go by, then the outcomes of this review will have been pre-determined: namely reductions in visa applicability, further duration limitations and even potential limitations on partners being able to participate.”

“Any such outcomes will raise some unanticipated problems for the Coalition,” said Honeywood.

“For example, when they were last in government, they agreed to provide Indian students with an additional 12 months duration for their 485 visas as a precondition to signing the Australia-India Free Trade Agreement,” he noted.

“In contrast, since the start of the official campaign, neither the Labor Party nor the Greens have chosen to make international students an election issue.”

Although Honeywood believes the current 485 visa conditions are “working and worth retaining”, he believes there “may well be” some issues that a genuine review could address, citing the need for greater alignment of skills in demand leading to more transparent migration outcomes. He stressed the importance of genuine stakeholder engagement in any such review.

In a recent blog post, Andrew Norton, higher education commentator and professor of higher education policy in the Monash Business School at Monash University, analysed the current and projected numbers of temporary graduate visa holders, noting the potential for significant increases in total 485 visa holders in the coming years.

Australia runs a transactional international student industry and should uphold its side of the bargain when it entices students to Australia with post-study work rights
_{^{Andrew Norton, Monash Business School}}

“Australia runs a transactional international student industry and should uphold its side of the bargain when it entices students to Australia with post-study work rights,” he told The PIE.

“If the Coalition accepted that principle they could reduce eligibility for the temporary graduate visa for future students or they could reduce its length. That would especially affect the migration sensitive markets in South Asian countries.”

Norton pointed to large numbers of commencing students in 2023 and 2024, noting that total student numbers will “remain high by historical standards”.

“As they complete their courses they will form a large pool of potential temporary graduate visa applicants,” he explained.

“As of late February this year, I estimate that there were around 1 million people in Australia on student-related visas. I doubt this will fall significantly anytime soon and this may create political pressure for more restrictive policies.”

Norton argued that a key takeaway from the past five years of migration policy is the value of maintaining consistent policies with gradual adjustments, rather than making drastic changes in response to short-term issues.

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